 "Representative Image Credit: Reuters")
The Australian government has banned the use of DeepSeek on all federal devices, citing national security concerns. The move comes after intelligence agencies advised that the Chinese AI chatbot posed an unacceptable risk.
The directive, issued on Tuesday by the secretary of the Home Affairs Department, mandates the removal of DeepSeek from all government systems. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that the decision was based on security assessments rather than the chatbot’s Chinese origins.
DeepSeek’s recent launch has sparked global concerns over data security and censorship, contributing to volatility in US tech stocks last week.
The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs issued a mandatory direction for all government entities to ”prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services and where found remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services from all Australian Government systems and devices,” the statement said.
The ban does not extend to devices of private citizens.
Tech stocks worldwide plunged after the launch of DeepSeek last month – apparently costing a fraction of rival AI models and requiring less sophisticated chips – raised questions over the West’s huge investments in chipmakers and data centres.
Australia’s decision to ban Deepseek follows similar action in Italy, while other countries in Europe and elsewhere are also looking into the AI firm. Taiwan banned government departments from using DeepSeek earlier this week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’ government imposed a government-wide ban on Chinese social media app TikTok two years ago over security concerns.
On Sunday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had also issued a ban on Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek for government-issued devices, becoming the first state to restrict the popular chatbot in such a manner. The upstart AI platform has sent shockwaves throughout the AI community after gaining popularity amongst American users in recent weeks.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe governor also prohibited popular Chinese-owned social media apps Xiaohongshu, or what some are calling RedNote, and Lemon8 from all state-issued devices.
AI startup DeepSeek has rocked markets upon demonstrating its capacity to compete with industry leader OpenAI.
With inputs from agencies